Ncaa Stiffens Recruit Policy

Schools Must Have Guidelines

August 6, 2004|By Ted Hutton Staff writer

Responding to recent scandals, the NCAA adopted a new set of rules for recruiting Thursday designed to force schools to quit treating athletes as visiting dignitaries and more like prospective college students.

No longer can private planes, lobster dinners and rooms at resort hotels be used to entice prized recruits to enroll.

Schools must tone down the perks and use commercial airlines and provide common sense meals and lodging, in line with what is available on campus.

They also cannot give recruits personalized jerseys or have them shown around or entertained by female escorts who are not part of the admissions office.

"This package is intended to end the celebrity atmosphere that has developed around the recruiting visit," said Robert Hemenway, chair of the Division I Board of Directors that approved the new rules.

Each school must file a set of recruiting guidelines with its conference or the NCAA before the next potential student-athlete can visit the campus, and each president or chancellor must sign off on those guidelines by Dec. 1.

"We sensed there was a no-holds-barred attitude," NCAA President Myles Brand said.

Brand created the Task Force on Recruiting in February after the scandal in Colorado where alcohol, strippers and sex were allegedly used to win over recruits.

Miami recruit Willie Williams' diary, published in a South Florida newspaper, detailed the extravagant meals, hotel rooms and luxury transportation he was treated to on recruiting trips before he was arrested during his visit to Florida.

While coaches agreed with most of the new rules, some had objected to the ban on private planes, complaining that many campuses were not near major airports, and long drives to and from the airport would limit the time a recruit could spend on campus.

But the Board shrugged aside those concerns, voting 14-3 to keep the rule.

"It's not a disadvantage," said Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley, who was a member of the task force. "There are enough flights into Gainesville, and we can use Orlando and Jacksonville."

Foley said he expected conferences to come up with a set of standards for its members so that there was not much variance between schools.

That is what the NCAA is hoping will happen with the new rules.

"We are really trying to cut down and minimize the focus on competition between institutions," Hemenway said "We want to try and create as much as possible a level playing field."

Attendance matters

The Board moved more carefully on the rules for membership in I-A football, letting stand rules that went into effect Aug. 1 that require schools to offer at least 200 scholarships in its overall athletic program, schedule at least four home games against I-A opponents and average at least 15,000 in actual attendance in order to become or remain at that level.

The Board did leave plenty of wiggle room by attaching no real penalty for the first violation and said the rules also were under review and could be changed at a later date.

"We will spend this next year examining those standards, and make sure they don't create legal liabilities," Hemenway said.

Failure to meet any of the standards would result in a school receiving a notice of non-compliance.

A second failure would put the school on restricted status and make it ineligible for a post-season bowl game. A third failure would result in a reclassification to a lower division.

Most of the discussion at the meeting was about the attendance issue, especially about how weather could impact the average.

"In course of the year-long review, that is one of the things that will be looked at," Hemenway said.

The rules are of particular interest to Florida Atlantic and Florida International. Both are starting the two-year transition from I-AA to I-A this season.

Attendance is the toughest standard for both schools to meet. FAU averaged 6,909 last year and FIU 7,073.